Japanese Base Set “No Rarity” — all 102 cards, with live prices初版マークなし 全種類カード図鑑（最新価格つき）

Hi, I'm No Rarity, a collector in Japan.

My name comes from the very first print run of the very first Pokémon card expansion, released in Japan in 1996 (the “Base Set” of the old-back era). On this print only, the rarity mark (● ◆ ★) that should sit at the bottom right of the card is missing.

After my Carddass lists, here are all 102 “No Rarity” cards, one by one. The prices for each card are updated daily from this site's data.

What is “No Rarity”?

• Released October 20, 1996, together with the starter deck. 102 cards: 69 Pokémon, 26 Trainers, 1 special Energy and 6 basic Energy.
• No Rarity is believed to be the first print. Later prints added ● (common), ◆ (uncommon) or ★ (rare) at the bottom right.
• 16 holos, including Charizard, Blastoise, Venusaur, Mewtwo and Clefairy.
• Basic Energy never had a mark in any print, so the 6 basic Energy cards are counted even though they look the same in every print.

Errors found only on No Rarity

• Venusaur: the Pokédex number reads “No.068” (Machamp's number) instead of No.003.
• Raichu: the Pokédex number reads “No.025” (Pikachu's number) instead of No.026.
• Charizard: its category reads “Strong Pokémon” (かいりきポケモン) instead of “Flame Pokémon” (かえんポケモン).

On the later ★ print, Charizard was corrected to “Flame Pokémon”. Venusaur's number is also said to have been fixed later.

Record sales

The “Strong Charizard” stands alone. On March 3, 2026, a PSA 10 sold for $1,700,000 — the first Charizard ever to pass one million dollars. A few days later, a PSA 10 signed by the illustrator Mitsuhiro Arita sold for $1,232,200. PSA records only 10 PSA 10s.

Watch out for look-alikes

Some cards have no rarity mark but are not No Rarity first prints. The best-known are the Trainers from the “Quick Starter Gift” (December 4, 1998): same art and no mark, but different wording. The first print usually says 自分の (“your own”) while the gift version says あなたの (“your”), so you can tell them apart by reading the text.

Another is the promo Electabuzz: no mark either, but it is LV.20 HP60 with different art. And cards that were not in the first set, such as Energy Transfer, are never No Rarity first prints even without a mark.

This section draws on pokemania's (Japanese) note, “Everything about the old-back first print”, a very detailed guide to identifying first prints.

That's all 102 No Rarity cards. A first print from 30 years ago, with its errors still in place — it is easy to see why so many collectors love it.

• Card images: TCGplayer product images for “Expansion Pack (No Rarity)”, resized. Basic Energy images are from “Expansion Pack”.
• Release date, contents, and No Rarity as the first print: Bulbapedia “Base Set (TCG)”.
• Charizard PSA 10 sale: Sports Illustrated, “World record Charizard headlines top Pokémon card sales of March 2026”.
• Sales: eBay, Fanatics Collect and Goldin, as collected by this site (How I select). Population: PSA, via GemRate.
• Images belong to their rights holders. If there is a problem, please contact me and I will respond promptly.